Homelessness on the rise in Philadelphia, report shows

Homelessness has risen in Philadelphia over the last four years, according to a new city report obtained by NBC10.

The report shows that the city’s unhoused population decreased from 2020 to 2021 but has increased every year since then.

In 2022, there were 4489 unhoused people in Philadelphia, according to the report. That number increased to 4725 in 2023, 5191 in 2024 and 5516 in 2025.

As the holidays near, there’s a greater chance visitors will see the unhoused throughout Philadelphia. According to the latest data, the largest group of unhoused individuals falls between the ages of 35 and 44 with the second largest being between the ages of 45 and 54. There are also currently 780 unhoused children in Philadelphia. The number of unhoused children in the city still dropped in 2025 compared to last year however, with the highest numbers reported in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Several outreach groups in the city work to help the unhoused, including Christ in the City, which provides hot meals to those in need every Wednesday.

“Every week we do see new faces and then usually they stick around,” Sophia Van Horn, the Christ in the City Outreach Coordinator, told NBC10. “We usually see them once and then they keep coming back.”

More resources for Philadelphia’s unhoused population can be found here.